A Sinking Battleship In the 2001 cult film The Royal Royal Tenenbaums, directed by Wes Anderson, a seemingly abnormal family, after two decades of unfortunate events, reunites once again . One might watch this movie and infer that the way the Tenenbaum family comes together is dark and that most of it was done out of pure selfishness, but it is actually a depiction of American life. The film begins by showing that at a young age all three Tenenbaum children found great success in their lives. Chas Tenenbaum creates a successful small business breeding Dalmatian mice, Richie Tenenbaum is a tennis prodigy, and their adopted daughter Margot Tenenbaum has received grants to write short plays. Shortly thereafter, the three children find themselves in a major post-success midlife crisis. As well as the family man, Royal Tenenbaum, who is portrayed at the beginning of the film as a money-sucker and compulsive liar, fabricates an outlandish lie about having cancer to gain sympathy from his former family. Through a series of unfortunate events the three children, and Royal, all find themselves in their childhood home with their mother, Etheline. Wrapping up in an uncontrollable story of an absurd and deviant family, which beneath the surface is actually an accurate representation of the average American family. Adoption always seems like a happy time for the child and the new parents, however, internally it may not seem happy. at all. According to Lydia Tarr, a mother who recently adopted a child, “stress is amplified 100% during the adoption process.” (Karlsson) Unfortunately, the Tenenbaum parents couldn't handle that stress, and instead of taking Margot back, they ignored her and the stress altogether. In the center of the sheet is Royal who seems to have received the greatest gift he could have asked for. Royal has regained the love of his family that he once lost, however, just two days after receiving it, he dies of a heart attack. Chas being the only one who was with his father at his death, he contemplated the life they had lived together and realized that, although they might have wasted twenty-two years of it, they had had quite a run. The film depicts how an average American family, through a series of ups and downs, can come together, and when the Tenenbaum family meets at home once again, they see that they are a better family than they have ever been before. The entire Tenenbaum clan attends the royal family's funeral and together finds joy in his unfortunate death. Tombstone, "Royal Tenenbaum: Died tragically saving his family from the wreckage of a wrecked sinking battleship." (Huntley)